Thomas Kin Chong

A lot of people see Tommy Chong (from Up in Smoke and That 70's Show) as an old man worn by drug use. Well I totally see him otherwise. As you may or may not have heard, Chong recently spent 9 months in prison for the selling of bongs. That's right... bongs. Something completely legal to sell here in the United States, but the government decided to put this man in jail for it because they felt that his fame for roles as a stoner promoted illegal marijuana use. Yes, I'm sure he has in some ways promoted smoking, but that isn't a crime that I'm aware of. There's actually more to this story. It was actually Chong's son who the charges were for, but the government, convinced that Chong was the greater evil, gave him the option of paying his sons time. Tommy figured his son, Marcus, was young and 9 months would be of more worth to him then an aging man. This is all discussed further in depth in the documentary A/K/A Tommy Chong. I'm actually ordering this movie Friday if anyone would like to borrow it sometime.

I, being obviously fairly interested in this story, decided to youtube Tommy Chong hoping to possibly come across a pirated version of the movie. Instead I just came across more gold. I first found this interview with Chong and Neil Cavuto from Fox News. This interview made me very furious. Not necessarily because of the topic and the very small minded views expressed, but more for how absolutely rude Cavuto was. As someone in news, you don't interview someone to argue with them, but rather then to get a person's opinion, not overwrite your own. It's fairly arrogant to have someone on to express their thoughts only to interrupt them countless times and not even listen to what they are saying. What was the point of the interview if he wasn't going to take in Chong's remarks? Chong brought up some very good points that I feel were shot down quickly by a very defensive Cavuto. There's nothing I dislike more then someone with a closed mind. At least listen to what the person has to say. In the end, if you still don't agree, well then you don't agree. Leave it at that.

Also in the midst of gold I found another Chong interview by Contessa Brewer. What's up with the short tempered, defensive news reporters? Notice how both reporters (Brewer and Cavuto) try to put words into Tommy Chong's mouth in their defense to make him seem crazy, when in fact they're really just having a personal battle on what they now believe after hearing some really good oppositions. And as if these reporters don't already look dumb enough, they go a head and ask if he had smoked before the interview. Really, can you make yourself look anymore ignorant? So what if he had smoked? If you knew anything about pot, you would know that some of your most clear and brightest thoughts come from smoking. You would also know that caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol are far worse then marijuana, yet all three are legal whereas marijuana obviously isn't. I bet both of them voted for Bush and to make their decisions seem ok, they go about their day to day living in extreme ignorance, focusing on dumb pointless issues.